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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

What A Day

To start things off, my blood sugars have been out of control. I have been doing so good and now all of a sudden no matter what I do, I can't regulate them. I have my first appointment with my endocrinologist on Friday so hopefully he will have something intelligent to add. On top of this, AF arrived...with a vengeance. The cramps this time around are awful and they are making me miserable. Since this was Day 1 I notified my clinic so that I can get started on BCP as we need to regulate my cycle around all of this immune testing. After going back and forth a few times with them it was decided that, since I am waiting this month out because of the immune testing, it was probably in my best interest to have a lap and a repeat hysteroscopy. I should know for sure by Friday, but it looks like it will be done in the next two weeks. It is done under general anesthesia and is performed at one of the local hospitals. I am not thrilled about this but apparently they don't know how many incisions will be made until the procedure is underway. Maybe it is better that I don't know. They are very small incisions but the part that I don't like is that all of my incisions keloid which requires laser treatments 3-6 months after they heal. So the less the better!

Something else interesting happened today. Over the past few months, I have been growing increasingly worried about the potential effects that these fertility drugs are having on me. Being on 600 IUs of stim meds can't be good, and the fact that I just completed my 7th cycle, makes me worry a little bit more. With the extensive history of breast cancer in my family, I decided to inquire about maybe having a mammogram just to get a baseline and make sure nothing is going on. A few years back (prior to all this infertility crap) my doctor had mentioned that I should eventually go and have a genetic consult with an oncologist. The only downside to this was that if I did have the testing done, and it showed that I had a gene for a specific type of cancer, I could forget about ever being able to get a life insurance policy. Earlier this year, I actually went and got a whole life policy so now that I am all set in that department, we have decided to move forward with the genetic testing. Two weeks from tomorrow I have an appointment to see an oncologist at New York Oncology and Hematology (NYOH). They will be screening me for uterine cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, colon cancer, and pancreatic cancer. I am not sure how I feel about having this done...my feelings are a bit mixed. On one hand, it would be good to know if my chances of developing a certain type of cancer is high as we will be able to either monitor things very closely to prevent advanced disease, or it can be treated surgically to prevent disease from ever occurring. On the other hand there is part of me that just doesn't want to face the potential of having to deal with something else...I already have enough shit going on. I obviously don't have any cancer now, but just knowing what my risk factors are (if I have any) kind of freak me out. According to NYOH I am considered "high risk" as I have already had a previous cancer diagnosis, have 10 cases of cancer just on my maternal side (with 4 of those being breast cancer where death occurred prior to age 50) and my moms diagnosis of Stage IV uterine cancer at such a young age (age 32). I have not consented to anything yet but I have agreed to talk to the oncologist in 2 weeks. I want to know more "facts" about this as understanding something half-assed only leads to more anxiety.

1 comment:

Ugh - to not only stress about getting pregnant but also to worry about cancer based on your family history - it's just unfair. I hope that you get the facts and knowledge that you need to relieve your anxiety and move forward in a direction you feel comfortable!